Discussion Topic

Just got a call from Pete - he witnessed a massive rockfall from high on Waterfall route on El Cap.
They are safe (Ryan, Patrick and Pete) but think they can see bodies at the base.
Pete said it looked like a sheet of rock about 100 feet square.

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. — Officials at Yosemite National Park in California say a chunk of rock broke off El Capitan along one of the world’s most famously scaled routes at the height of climbing season.

Ranger Scott Gediman said Wednesday that witnesses made multiple calls reporting the rock fall around 2 p.m. PDT. He estimates 30 or more climbers were on the wall at the time, but he could not confirm injuries or the size of the rock fall.

Gediman says the park’s helicopter is helping assess the damage.

The rock fall happened along the Waterfall route on El Capitan’s eastern buttress.

Take it easy. The thing about El Capitan is that all of the climbing routes to its top follow lines of molecular weakness. It's the basic rule of geology that troubles millions of people and the value we place on flat earth while surrounded by valleys.

If you find yourself looking up at a route you want to climb, wait until the rain falls. You will see every weakness we climb, streaming water.

Hey all, my name is Mark Evan Smith and I'm a reporter with the Sierra Star (newspaper in Oakhurst, very close to Yosemite National Park). We're happy that Ryan and friends are okay but obviously this is a very scary situation. Since I'm assuming it's difficult to get in touch with him, would it be okay to use his photo with full photo credit on our website, and then possibly for publication in The Fresno Bee, Modesto Bee, and elsewhere? I will be frank and let you know we did publish it with our story, but we can remove it ASAP if that's what Ryan would prefer.

The Associated Press and several television news outlets also wish to use the photo. My phone number is (559) 683-4464 and email is msmith@sierrastar.com. Please let me know if this is okay. Thank you!

" I will be frank and let you know we did publish it with our story, but we can remove it ASAP if that's what Ryan would prefer."

At least you admit it.

You do realize that under copyright law and intellectual property law this is essentially theft and grounds for a lawsuit, right? Without a release of rights you just opened every paper you gave it to up to a suit.

If I were Ryan I'd be asking for compensation. More so since it was published it multiple places without authorization.

A rockfall of undetermined size occurred in Yosemite National Park this afternoon at about 1:55 p.m. this afternoon. The rockfall was reported to have happened from El Capitan, a granite monolith above Yosemite Valley. The release point appears to be near the "Waterfall Route", a popular climbing route on the East Buttress of El Capitan. This is the area where Horsetail Fall flows in winter and spring conditions.

Yosemite National Park Rangers and Yosemite Search and Rescue are currently on scene assessing the situation. The park helicopter is currently flying and also assessing the situation.

There is one confirmed fatality and one injured person. Park Rangers are working to transport the injured person to receive medical care.outside of the park. .

This is the climbing season in Yosemite National Park and there are many climbers on El Capitan and other climbing routes in the park.

Yosemite National Park remains open and visitor services are not affected.

There will be no further news releases this evening and phone calls may not be returned until tomorrow morning. . Further information will be available and a news release will be issued tomorrow morning, September 28, updating the incident.."

Since I'm assuming it's difficult to get in touch with him, would it be okay to use his photo with full photo credit on our website, and then possibly for publication in The Fresno Bee, Modesto Bee, and elsewhere? I will be frank and let you know we did publish it with our story, but we can remove it ASAP if that's what Ryan would prefer.

I'll be frank: You stole the photo. Now you want to ask the author (or other random climbers here?) if your theft is OK. How about you take the stolen imagery down, then ask the author if he will grant you use rights? You know, NOT STEAL IT?

Whether or not the use of this photo as a way to keep people informed of this tragedy was authorized or not is SO NOT IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW.

Please keep things in perspective. Someone died. Let's all take a break from sniping about inconsequential BS and pay our respects to this person who lost their life - and their loved ones - by having a little more respect for each other.

Woah, gnarly. Potential for death and destruction is exacerbated by high season traffic. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. Rocks follow rains. Even if it's "perfect" stone next to the road. RIP and best wishes to those affected.

Whether or not the use of this photo as a way to keep people informed of this tragedy was authorized or not is SO NOT IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW.

Please keep things in perspective. Someone died. Let's all take a break from sniping about inconsequential BS and pay our respects to this person who lost their life - and their loved ones - by having a little more respect for each other.

I fail to see how the breach of copyright with regards to the theft of the photograph is related to anybody mourning the loss of somebody in this rockfall.

Everyone on this site is profoundly aware of what it is like to lose family and/or friends in the mountains ( or elsewhere ) and we all grieve the loss for others.

Anita started this thread as a public service to those who are not presently in the Valley to know there had been a rockfall and to check up on friends and loved ones.

Was on East Buttress at the time, watched a thin but masssive piece falling and got blasted by debris. Fairly certain my partner and I were the last to see them before it happened.. a couple here from Wales, they rapped off the top of the third pitch where we passed them as they were debating that decision. They were descending when the rock fall occurred. Heart goes out to her and their friends and family

hey there say, dear just_hendo... my hugs and comfort to you, as you had been through seeing all this...

my love and condolences and prayers, for the family and all involved...

though we have the joy of friends, saved, the equal height, of
emotion, goes to the sadness for the loss of even one life, that
we did not personally...
and to the injured and the pains suffered through they have
seen and went through, and to you too...

all one can say, is-- in your corner, forever, for a 'backup' of
inner strength, to and to those that suffered, :(

I fear two more were completely buried under the rock fall. I observed two or three people walking at the base, and I saw the block falling because I happened to be tagging up some gear at the time.

I saw a hundred foot by 100 foot by 100 foot chunk of granite the size of an apartment building peel off two thousand feet above the deck, hit the wall a thousand feet up and shatter into a hundred thousand pieces that completely annihilated everything be nice. It is inconceivable the people I saw survived. If there was one Survivor apparently? I am also pretty sure I observed a body recovery.

If there are two people missing, it will be extremely difficult to recover them from beneath so much Rockfall.

This next paragraph is pure speculation. Our guess is that there are two people buried, and the third person who appeared to be a girl in an orange helmet was spared. A guy in a green shirt ran over from the Zodiac area and probably went up into the Rock fall to search for the people who were buried. Ryan shouted continually from the portaledge to stay away because more rock was going to come down. We think that the guy in the green shirt is the one who perished and was carried away by the rescue crew. But this is only a guess based on what we saw. It is a true blue big wall miracle that orange helmet girl survived not one rock fall but too. She must have some sort of hedge of protection around her.

The photo they chose was pretty inappropriate I thought too. Oh well. I do give the media permission to use any photographs and videos they want. I made the Facebook posts public so you guys can all go see them on Facebook right now.

Geez that is a F8cked situation for everyone involved.
Sorry Pete you had to see any of it though it was probably wild to see.
You too just_hendo, glad you and your partner dodged the business end coming down.
Amazing how close we all live to the edge a lot of the time and don't even realize it.

My heart goes out to all involved.

The mountains really don't care. They have their life and it is being lived.
El Cap is just doing what it does.

Prompts to all SAR folks and those who are on the 'front line' helping and putting themselves at risk.

A horrible but entirely natural event, so why the need to bring Sky Daddy into this? What kind of God would squash some people with rocks but spare others?
My heart goes out to anyone injured or killed and their loved ones.

First, condolences to family and friends of any deceased. Good luck on healing quickly to those injured.

As to publishing the photograph, people are citing Copyright law incorrectly.

From the US Copyright Office:

"Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the Copyright Act provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that may qualify as fair use."

This is clearly news reporting. Those using the pictures have not hidden their activity, and have reached out. It's hard to imagine what else one could do. I think they have acted appropriately, and respectfully.

This is clearly news reporting. Those using the pictures have not hidden their activity, and have reached out. It's hard to imagine what else one could do. I think they have acted appropriately, and respectfully.

I would imagine they could have:
1. Not used the photo at press time, going instead with the factual text gleaned from reporting (as the images are more about customer engagement with material rather than factual reporting)
2. Had some modicum of patience and waited until permission was granted
3. Updated the online version of the article with the photos once (and if) the permission was given.

In this time lapse from the Yosemite web cam you can see a flash of the dust cloud at about 26 seconds in. You can also see the fresh rock exposed after the 26 second mark. If you play from about 20 seconds to 30 seconds a few times it is easy to see.

My daughter was climbing in Yosemite yesterday and planning to portaledge last night. We've not heard from her. Can anyone tell me how advanced the waterfall route is? She's been training for her first big wall climb so wouldn't have been on an advanced route.

How do they know for sure there isn't anybody else under that enormous pile?

They can't know 'for sure' but rely on lack of missing persons reports, perhaps a lack of unknown unattended vehicles, cadaver dogs? Just my guesses.
It's also possible that by the time all the dust settled the debris was not as deep as we imagine.

My daughter was climbing in Yosemite yesterday and planning to portaledge last night. We've not heard from her. Can anyone tell me how advanced the waterfall route is? She's been training for her first big wall climb so wouldn't have been on an advanced route.

She would not have been on that route, and if there was someone on the route I'm quite sure Pete or others would have seen the party.

Jason Kruk and I tried to free the Waterfall route a couple years ago, but turned around in the face of loose rock. A week ago, a giant rockfall obliterated the line we were trying. Often I wonder if the fear I am feeling on routes is justified, or just nervous hocus-pocus. This section of wall is really sketchy, and I think we made the right decision a couple years back.

@hiker11, to add to nathanael's comment above, there are TONS of other routes in Yosemite that aren't even anywhere close to El Capitan, and many of them would be great routes for someone that's building up towards big wall climbing. She is probably climbing on a totally different rock formation and might not even be aware the the rockfall occurred. Plus cell phone reception is spotty, so she may not get a chance to call until the end of her trip. Lastly, aside from the couple from Great Britain, NPS is reporting all others safely accounted for (can't say for sure how they know that). I'm sure the wait is agonizing for a parent, but just know that the chances of her being in the vicinity are MUCH smaller than what you might assume.

Sincere condolences to the friends and family of the deceased and all involved.

If you compare the Stanhope photo to the current one, you can see that Pete's ballpark estimate of the size of the rockfall is not far off, looks to be about 100' tall x 30-40' wide section that came off. I'm judging that by comparing what's missing between the two photos to the grey circle pitches of Zodiac.

It is very unfortunate that this rock fall has caused casualty and injuries. My sincere condolences to all who are involved.

About the daughter, if you still have not heard from her try contacting the climbing ranger. He will be the most likely to know who she was climbing with, or who to ask about where she was climbimg.

I honestly doubt that climbing rangers are aware of the whereabouts or whoiswhos of 90+% of the climbers in the park, unless you are 1) famous, 2) actively engaged with a local crew, or 3) on El Cap which is being monitored by many lenses such as Tom's. So, do not let panic set in if the rangers don't know anything about an individual. I leave my phone on AirPlane mode when I'm in the park because I know reception is extremely spotty and I don't have a compelling reason to be reachable. So, to the dad, I can understand your worries. I hope your daughter will be able to make contact soon.

Pete was climbing on El Cap, high on a big wall, and didn't ask to see this event, to see people die. It has to be traumatic. As well as, Pete still had to get to the top, and climbing has to be a bit scary after seeing a piece of El Cap that big come off next to you.
My condolences to the families of the victims of this tragedy.

My daughter was climbing in Yosemite yesterday and planning to portaledge last night. We've not heard from her. Can anyone tell me how advanced the waterfall route is? She's been training for her first big wall climb so wouldn't have been on an advanced route.

Wow. Just did Lurking Fear on Sunday with Tim Klein. Walking up to the base of the Western side of El Capitan in the dark I remarked how glad I was to be hiking on that side—that spooky rock on the far East side looked like it could just cut loose anytime and always gave me the jitters, me being in no way a bigwall hardman.

I bailed of Eagle's Way several years ago largely because the looseness on that side of the wall gave me the creeps. I'm sure just about everyone on this forum has walked through the impact zone on their way to the East Buttress.

as to things that someone may say, or wonder about, on an interview...

also, please understand... just as a kind note...

1-- we all have different brain patterns... some folks naturally
share, by adding WHAT led up to the event-- it keep it in context,
as they explain, who, what, why, 'they are there' and thus,
how the 'what happened' affected them...

i have seen this many times, when helping others that have seen
something awful...

2-- it helps keep facts straight, in their mind, as they are
still actively processing it...

then again:

1--some folks that have another way of brain processing, will fix
in entirely ON the event, and nearly not even think as to 'who they are'
or what is going on, in comparing to WHAT they just saw... it is
such a shock, and they zero in on that instead...

everyone here, knows, at least those that KNOW these folks in person,
well, everyone knows, the utter pain and devastation of the precious
LIFE that all HOLD in there in hands, while climbing...
of course, pete would NOT BE 'enjoying a moment of fame' in such
a wrong way...

i'd think, he rose to the serious occasion of keeping things as straight
as he SAW them, and tell the NEWS (which clearly had quite often misrepresented climbers, in terms, and all the things you folks have
mentinoed here, as to PAST reports-- and thus mentally must have tried to
show what position he was in (first), as a climber, to PORTRAY 'why' heunderstood, and was sharing the 'size and fall, and how rare it was to see this' etc,etc,

wheww... i'd have hated to be in his shoes, to do that, and KNOWING all the while that perhaps i have just seen precious human life die...

well, just trying to help make a better 'playing field' here for
everyone, as, it is a very hard things...

we are all different, but-- we all care...

my condolences to the family and loved ones, from this terrible event...

What Im curious to see is where Pete and his party are located in some of these pictures. Obviously too tiny to be seen but just the location from where his pictures and video were shot relative to the new scarring.

Not to hate on Pete, but I've known him for over 20 years, he's a shameless self promoter and it's obvious he used the medias interest in this tragic rockfall to spout on national news about how many nights he's spent on El Cap and how many routes he climbed.

Sure he's in a unique Birdseye perspective of the event to be able to do so...but I can't help rolling my eyes at his commentary. Though surely anyone who has spent even a brief amount of time with him couldn't be surprised by it.

I was once interviewed in the Camp 4 parking lot by the San Fransisco news channel back in 98 I think when a climber was killed by the big rockfall off Glacier Point. I was just a kid back then and when she asked me, "How do you justify the risks of climbing when you could get killed by rockfall?"

I recall saying something like "We all take risks getting in our cars and diving down the highway everyday. I'd rather be climbing then driving."

I meant it at the time but in hindsight after watching myself on TV it felt a bit callous and insensitive to the deceased climber, and I regretted doing the interview at all.

I thought that PTPP did a great job of not reaching through the phone to slap the interviewer. After a discussion of the climb being next to a waterfall and a bonus description of the specific waterfall...

I ran into a British couple from Wales on Monday. They were bailing from climbing South Face because of all the people. They were stoked about spending the last three days of their vacation climbing El Cap base routes. Really sweet people.

This is absolutely mad. Devestated. I left the valley last week and now this happens. I'm hoping against hope that somehow nobody got hurt in this second big fall. Thinking of all my friends over there. Stay safe, everyone.

New to this forum so don't know how to reply directly to those that answered my earlier question. But I wanted to say thanks to the people who responded about the location of the recent rockfall in yellow pines relative to where my daughter is climbing right now (leaning tower).

“At any location on earth, as the rock record goes down into time and out into earlier geographies it touches upon tens of hundreds of stories, wherein the face of the earth often changed, changed utterly, and changed again, like the face of a crackling fire.”
John McPhee

I just walked back to Yellow Pines after viewing source of rock fall. No new one since the big one at 3:30. Cell photos stop uploading at 89% so giving up trying to post a photo for now. I had southside drive to myself until they opened it to 2way.

Take it easy. The thing about El Capitan is that all of the climbing routes to its top follow lines of molecular weakness. It's the basic rule of geology that troubles millions of people and the value we place on flat earth while surrounded by valleys.

If you find yourself looking up at a route you want to climb, wait until the rain falls. You will see every weakness we climb, streaming water.

During the time I was climbing actively (I switched to surfing and skiing after becoming a Dad), it would occur to me every couple of months that climbing roofs, in particular, requires willful denial of the reality of how the roof got there.

Yosemite National Pk‏Verified account @YosemiteNPS 2h2 hours ago
More
Northside Drive exiting Yosemite Valley is closed due to a new rockfall off of El Capitan. Use Southside Drive to exit Yosemite Valley.

Shots from YNPS....second is chilling looking at the amount of rock spewing down from the face. Third shows how giant the rock scar is now compared to yesterday. Today's fall was so much larger in size like Pete said.

On Wednesday, a sheet of granite the height of a 13-story building — about 130 feet long, 65 feet wide and in some sections 10 feet thick — separated from the rock face and dropped to the base of El Capitan, officials said.

A couple were apparently standing at the base of the cliff at the time of the crash. The man who was killed was identified Thursday as Andrew Foster, 32, of Wales, according to the National Park Service. His wife was airlifted to a hospital; her name has not been released.

(They were walking back to the car under the wall, after they had retreated from 3 pitches up the East Buttress).
I have not seen a report on her injuries, but she is partly upright in photos of the short haul and entering the ambulance.

Thanks, Clint. That's what I thought. I was fearing for the injured reading some earlier posts. I hope she will have a speedy and full recovery, but I'm certain the mental wound from this trauma wil take a long to heal.

What I find strange, is that looking at the before and after pics of the second fall, it doesn't look to be a rift, or weak area in the rock. Although I'm sure it's hard to discern any detail in the rock from such a distance.

Before-and-after comparison of the 28 September 2017 rockfall. Left photo shows scars from the 27 September 2017 rockfall, with climbers in upper left for scale. Right photo shows the same area after the 28 September rockfall.

Like Hiker, I'm a concerned parent. Squish just arrived yesterday afternoon, just moments before the second fall. Mrs Squench and I talked with him just after, and he's fine. But we're anxious and worried and praying that the valley takes care of him. He's turning 19 today, so if you see a bearded kid from NC, please wish him happy birthday, make sure he's not doing anything stupid and tell him to wear his goddamn helmet.

Uh huh. And where was your skyman for the poor victim and his wife on the ground? Where was your fairy tale bearded man above when a mentally disturbed kid walked into an elementary school and murdered a bunch of innocent little children?

Anita, it would be super cool - and super clarifying - if Pete could photoshop an X (marks the spot) on one of these pics where he and partners were exactly when rockfall #1 let loose (where exactly they took that amazing first pic looking down).

Gumby, Reilly, wondered same thing. There is that huge portion that appears oxidized / weathered in light brown perhaps suggesting separation from mt and thus not pulling its own weight and loading rock above indicated by the clean fresh cleavage.

Curious, there is that "little" "pinnacle like" ledge clearly visible in pics just up and right in the before and after pics that is just beyond the cleavage border. Anyone know if this ledge is on a particular route? Just curious is all. In the pics, not the very prominent, very much larger flake system high above but the lower more ledgey structure below.

that "little pinnacle" is a pitch on "Chinese Water Torture". Most of the lower parts of this route are gone as is almost the entire "Get Whacked" route. Despite claims to the contrary, most of the "Waterfall Route" appears to be largely intact. Potential new route in the white scar. I'd give it a Winter of storms to clean it up a bit first.

HFCS
if you look at g stocks photo side by side you can see Pete and crew.

I saw the light brown in the new fall and it suggests to me it had been detached and dirt and water had filled in. I suspect years of freeze and thaw kept prying it away and eventually the mass was too great to support with what was still attached.

Glad those guys got off and unharmed. I bet if you are on a man made anchor that type of release and subsequent vibration could result in an anchor failure if your close to the release.

Anyway thoughts n prayers for the man killed his girlfriends recovery and their families healing. Tough way to go.

Rockfall in Yosemite is usually large and, given the slow process of geologic events, alarmingly frequent. The massive fall at Elephant Rock was not very many years ago and many of us can remember driving to the base of the Cookie on a side road now blocked by massive boulders twenty feet deep.
Everytime I look at Boot Flake I get the impression it's pasted onto the wall with chewing gum. I suspect that climbing routes at the base of El Cap (nibbling at the toes of the giant in Robbins' words) is beginning to loose it's charm.

I doubt it. Defining the rock scar outline where the rockfall originated is the easy part. Defining the processes and risk factors that lead to rockfall is the challenge. Where and when the great granite monolith exhibited vulnerability this week would have been extremely difficult to predict in advance.

Thanks, too, I had missed this side by side gstock comparison with noted mention of climbers for reference.

Klaus, thanks for the clarification.

Original, gstock...

Before-and-after comparison of the 28 September 2017 rockfall. Left photo shows scars from the 27 September 2017 rockfall, with climbers in upper left for scale. Right photo shows the same area after the 28 September rockfall.

Sep 29, 2017 - 06:24am PT
I just keep thinking about the SAR members that went into the fall zone after the first event. They probably knew more was likely to come. Risky job, we're lucky to have you guys and gals, thank you.

yes... oh my...

and mtnyoung...

thank you for the photo share, of all the rock dust, :O

looking at the photos--
when you see the HUGE rock-scape in FULL, from afar, the 'rock fall' seems so similar to 'water rolling off its shoulder' and it stands yet, so powerful in spite of it all...

YET,
to us humans, and the trees and land below:

the hugeness and tremendous power, in the reactions from this type of fall
is nearly beyond what we can comprehend... :O
and this last one... to fill the rock dusk, into the valley, :O

drawing near, by either BEING THERE, or, by zoom photos, (such as tom, takes) we see how 'minute' we are, compared to all that yosemite
HAS in masses of rock THROUGHOUT the valley...

i remember that since a small kid...

BUT--it is a whole OTHER thing, to imagine these RESCUE working, having to
DEAL WITH the aftermath of such a BREAKING LOOSE...

or, pete's group, dealing with it, and worse of all, of the
others that have died during one...

i also think of mason, and others, that we have learned of, through
the years...

:(

thank you to these rescue workers...
we can't thank you enough for what you do...

edit:
thank you for the BEFORE AND AFTER pics...
and,

thank you for the link, as to andy's lost, and the
honor, given to him...

prayers for his wife, as she recovers, and
must go on, without him, now...

I'm curious to know if Pete, and crew heard any weird noises prior to the slides.

ryansheridan We slept in the fall zone only a couple nights ago. I remember leading the pitches up to our camp, and thinking that all the rock was garbage. I was convinced that I would zipper the whole pitch if I fell. I guess I was right about that seeing as it parted ways with El-cap. I was really stressed after hooking and freeclimbing and really wanted a solid piece of protection. I placed a horizontal beak, and hit it once with my hammer. I swore I saw the whole wall drop an inch, I blamed it on stress and finished the lead but it seemed real enough to yell down to Pete as he cleaned the pitch. We convinced ourselves it was impossible that such a massive feature could move, even an inch.

AN FRANCISCO (AP) — A man injured in the second massive rockfall in two days at Yosemite was driving out of the national park when rock and rubble broke through the sunroof of his SUV, hitting him in the head, his wife said.

Television images show Jim Evans, of Naples, Florida, conscious and his wife holding a jacket around his bloody head.

It's going to be interesting to see what time period (or freq) the experts attach to this particular size event. It sort of parallels the dynamics, distribution and statistics (freq as a function of size) of asteroid strikes.

That pic of the Evans is another way of showing us, I think, how fragile our atmosphere is - and just how much we take its status quo (eg, its clarity, its clemency) for granted. Amazing. They look like they're sitting in the aftermath of a war zone. Or else 9/11 NYC downtown.

I only ever lurk here, but thought perhaps I would post the following annotated photo that I made while trying to understand the position of each rockfall (2010-present), relative to the route. Any errors are my fault, but this is accurate to the best of my ability. It is sobering to compare the position of the climbers in the El Cap Report photos from 2015 vs. the recent rockfall, as I gather that PTPP and party would have traversed some of this ground on the 27th. I am glad they are safe, and very sad for the climbers on the ground, I haven't the words...

Approximate sources of rockfall on Waterfall route 2010-2017.

Credit: RjBlake

I used Antoine Guerin's 2013 gigapan as the base photo, and compared that to Tom Evans El-Cap report photos (10/9/2015 and 9/26/15) to get a sense of where the route goes. I then used gstocks photos from the supertopo thread about the 2014 rockfall to estimate their position on the gigapan screenshot.

If you look at the before photo you can sort of make out the line of weakness where it came off on the eastern side.

Jesus a beak broke the camels back. That's a hair raising account of being in the zone before the demise. I always felt like when you're on a wall you're more in touch with the sixth sense that you realize at times. If you're in tune with it, it can be the difference between living and pain.

I'm thinking the single beak tap as an agent of release is tantamount to a butterfly's wings instigating a tsunami. Not that I'd know much about these things. Probably coincidence tied to an inevitability. Who can say? I wasn't there. But seeing/feeling all that rock move an inch, that's a distinct possibility, and one of those holy mother moments, for sure.

I was at the top of the first pitch of Stoners when that big chunk fell off left of the Trip in 77?
By far and away the biggest I've ever seen.
Any estimates on how the two events compare?

I was in the valley at the same time, wasn't this one under El Cap Tree and wasn't Werner in the area when it happened? Didn't see it, but I sure heard it! I can't believe what this most recent event must have sounded like......

The Goat: in 1980, Marco Milano related to me a story of rockfall near El Cap tree. IIRC, he and Werner witnessed cracks propagating. Might be the 1977 event you are referring to?

I was on the Nose in 1987 with clients, and while sitting in our sleeping bags at camp 4, we watched a sizable patch rip off of Middle. If I had to guess, it was 50' x 50'. That's conservative. Probably was larger (perhaps the width and height of a rope length). Crap is tearing out of that place from time to time, well within our lifespans.

Wasn't it just last week that we had a thread on debris from a big rockfall over by the West Face of El Capitan?

That was the story I heard, "cracks started getting bigger." I also recall the "shift" in the Hourglass that crushed some fixed pro at the crux around the same time

I witnessed rockfall off the east buttress/schultz's ridge late one spring afternoon driving west from C4. Crazy big block cartwheeling against a sunny background, scared the crap out of me, but compared to what's been occurring lately, just a pebble.

Just reading the summary of the document which EC posted, it's more about risk to structures (and the people inside of them) from:

frequency of occurrence of outlying boulder deposition.

Not that it isn't interesting reading. Or that it isn't on-topic.

Said respectfully (specifically addressing the father who posted up earlier):
But it won't necessarily tell a father what his daughter's risk exposure is from calving of large portions of rock when she's climbing El Capitan. Now that would be something to read!

..............................

But to continue with some excerpts:

The hazard line presented here encompasses a zone of deposition for fragmental rock falls in Yosemite Valley up to approximately 100,000 m3 in volume. It does not account for potential deposition zones of infrequent extremely large rock falls (>100,000 m3 ),

And this is a good one, always important for the risk-averse to know that walking the face of the earth isn't a wholly safe enterprise:

As previously stated by Wieczorek et al. (1998), because of the configuration of the steep, tall (~ 1 km) valley walls and the relatively narrow (~1 km) valley, there are no absolutely safe or zero probability regions for extremely large rock falls or rock avalanches within Yosemite Valley.

And the skinny:

Aggregated risk metrics for each study region reveal two important points: (1) Permanent closure of structures in Curry Village in 2008 reduced the overall risk associated with structures in Yosemite Valley by at least 87%, and (2) following the 2008 closures, the remaining risk associated with structures is highest in Curry Village, Camp 4, and the Curry Village Residential Area, respectively, with lesser degrees of risk in the LeConte-Housekeeping Camp, Sunnyside Bench, Castle Cliffs, Wahhoga, and El Capitan study regions, respectively.

Tar
I was in Curry village that morning just getting up when it hit the cabins in the back. Luckily the people who had those cabins had left early. The rock popped and creaked the next night, a lot of people left..

What I find strange, is that looking at the before and after pics of the second fall, it doesn't look to be a rift, or weak area in the rock.

My thoughts exactly, this section of the wall looks as stable as any other. Then again, the talus field at the bottom of any cliff is a reminder that most of the rock we climb on will eventually break off.

Rockfall in this area is nothing new. In the spring of 1974 i was racing up east buttress of middle cathedral with my freind Bill when a very loud boom of rock fall interrupted our concentration. Clouds of dust quickly obscured the east end of El Cap then the meadows. Although not as large as this exfoliation a sizable scar was visible some time later when the dust lifted.

Abstract: In the last decades surface exposure dating using cosmogenic nuclides has emerged as a powerful tool in Quaternary geochronology and landscape evolution studies. Cosmogenic nuclides are produced in rocks and sediment due to reactions induced by cosmic rays. Landforms ranging in age from a few hundred years to tens of millions of years can be dated (depending on rock or landform weathering rates) by measuring nuclide concentrations. In this paper the history and theory of surface exposure dating are reviewed followed by an extensive outline of the fields of application of the method. Sampling strategies as well as information on individual nuclides are discussed in detail. The power of cosmogenic nuclide methods lies in the number of nuclides available (the radionuclides 10Be, 14C, 26Al, and 36Cl and the stable noble gases 3He and 21Ne), which allows almost every mineral and hence almost every lithology to be analyzed. As a result focus can shift to the geomorphic questions. It is important that obtained exposure ages are carefully scrutinized in the framework of detailed eld studies, including local terrace or moraine stratigraphy and regional morphostratigraphic relationships; as well as in light of independent age constraints.

Exfoliation of rock deteriorates cliffs through the formation and
subsequent opening of fractures, which in turn can lead to potentially
hazardous rockfalls. Although a number of mechanisms are known to
trigger rockfalls, many rockfalls occur during periods when likely
triggers such as precipitation, seismic activity and freezing
conditions are absent. It has been suggested that these enigmatic
rockfalls may occur due to solar heating of rock surfaces, which
can cause outward expansion. Here we use data from 3.5 years
of field monitoring of an exfoliating granite cliff in Yosemite
National Park in California, USA, to assess the magnitude and
temporal pattern of thermally induced rock deformation. From
a thermodynamic analysis, we find that daily, seasonal and
annual temperature variations are sufficient to drive cyclic
and cumulative opening of fractures. Application of fracture
theory suggests that these changes can lead to further
fracture propagation and the consequent detachment of rock.
Our data indicate that the warmest times of the day and year
are particularly conducive to triggering rockfalls, and that
cyclic thermal forcing may enhance the efficacy of other,
more typical rockfall triggers.

RE the question posed ^^^ whether a climber pounding a piton could have triggered the
recent rockfall...My $0.02: that slab was ready to go due to multiple natural processes
acting over 1,000s of years before Ryan Sheridan placed that horizontal beak.

EDIT: July, Aug & Sept are the months with the largest difference in daily min/max temps. Also, I think that historical rockfall is evenly distributed throughout the year and that there isn't any seasonal correlation.

Here are a couple of additional plots from the same paper showing diurnal crack expansion and contraction in response to daily min & max temperatures for 10 days in June 2011

Some of you may be interested to know how these measurements are made. We have baseline high-resolution ground-based lidar data for Yosemite Valley cliffs. During helicopter assessment I'll take hundreds of photos of the cliff as the helicopter moves. These photos are then used to derive a "structure-from-motion" photogrammetry terrain model that can be compared against the baseline lidar data. So the values above are not estimates, they are actual measurements with high precision.

This work its collaborative between the NPS, the US Geological Survey, and the Risk Analysis Group at the University of Lausanne (UNIL), Switzerland.

Ground-based lidar point cloud, textured with a gigapixel panorama, showing rockfall volumes determined by differencing against more recent lidar and structure-from-motion terrain models.

First saw this video in the Physical Sciences building quite a few years ago.

The long version with some history.

The answer is blowing in the [180 mph] wind?

Harmonic distortion - karma

The main goal for Karma is to bring a productive testing environment to developers. The environment being one where they don't have to set up loads of configurations, but rather a place where developers can just write the code and get instant feedback from their tests. Because getting quick feedback is what makes you productive and creative.

There's no increased risk due to the recent rockfall events because rockfall risk is always there and the recent events on El Cap are consistent with the historical record.
However...

Stock said it's impossible to predict when and where a rock fall will strike and detecting shifts in rocks could be a sign that one will break loose days or maybe years later.

The question "What finally caused or triggered the rockfall?" is a tough one...like asking which "straw" finally broke the camel's back? we know there are many "straws" of differing size being placed on the camel's back over geologic time.

Read about Walter Bonatti and Pierre Mazaud (sp?) on their FA on the Grande Jorasses.

There was so much rockfall that their rope was cut in 6 places and tied back together. The leader essentially free soloed a pitch and the second carried both packs. At one point a hundred meter high pinnacle peeled off and fell right over their heads.

What's interesting about Werner's graph is that those are ambient temps. It has been my experience in taking surface temp readings that those ranges are even greater on the surface of an object.

I wonder if Greg Stock has ever placed a temperature sensor on a potential failure zone to monitor the surface temps of a zone that is a high potential for failure and release. Would be interesting data in the grand scheme of thing I would think.

Perhaps not. I suspect after one of the hottest summers on record and the drastic cooling we had a week or so ago then a rapid return to the high 90's would that contraction and then rapid expansion of surface materials be part of the equation.

It would be interesting to me to go back to those events over the time of record and cross reference the high and low temps and see if a correlation existed.

Perhaps a waste of time given the medium but could be a potential for warning if there were some correlation in temps and when the event took place.

Finally, our results offer a potential explanation for rockfalls that have no recognized trigger despite sometimes detailed observation at the time of failure. These include records of spontaneous summertime rockfalls in Japan, France, Brazil, Switzerland and Yosemite. In Yosemite, a disproportionate number (15%) of rockfalls with either an identified thermal stress trigger or an unrecognized trigger occur during the hottest summer months (July through September) and at the hottest times of the day (12:00 through 18:00 PST) compared to what would be expected under a random distribution (6%). We suggest that cyclic thermal stresses might be the trigger for these rockfalls and potentially many others around the world, highlighting the role of temperature in eroding steep landscapes.

Thanks for the post. It just makes sense to me that this could be a trigger. A product we used in the industry I was in was know to contract and expand 130% of its natural state on a surface. The polymers were designed to do this based on surface temperature variations throughout the day on those surfaces.

These products had a surface life on average of 10 years. They typically began to fail when an imperfection in either the surface or substrate was present. As we know there are plenty of imperfections in the rock. A combination of freeze thaw and a line of weakness will result in a crack and eventual failure. Imagine how many times the water on the waterfall has filled the seams and cracks and then froze where this took place. Combine that natural system with the expansion of a hot summer and then a cooling and it's probably a given it will fail at some point.

It will be interesting to watch the recent fall area over the next few years as I'm sure it will have opened up new areas for water travel and the repeated cycle of freeze thaw and expansion.

The different minerals in granite have different linear expansion coefficients, which are anisotropic (depends on which direction in the crystal), not to mention ice, which is five times higher. It also apparently undergoes a ductile brittle transition at high strain rates. I haven't worked in this field in many years but my bet is on the thermal cycling and not Pete's junk show, whatever that is.

Has anyone posted a trace here or elsewhere of the principle route or routes that used to go through the area? That would be so informative and interesting to see. (Not just the routes or trails hit by the rockfall but the route or routes that used to go through the affected area.)

I just read that the man who died saved his wife's life by jumping on top of her and shielding her. My heart goes to the family and friends of this brave soul.

I am wondering about how much piton pounding still goes on with these El Cap routes. Most everyone is doing most everything clean, but evidently not all?

FROM MSN:

LONDON — A British newspaper is reporting that the Welsh climber killed by falling rock in Yosemite National Park this week died while trying to shield his wife.

The Times says Andrew Foster's wife, Lucy, told her husband's aunt that he jumped to cover her as tons of rock came cascading on Wednesday down the face of El Capitan, a 3,600-foot granite monolith that attracts climbers from around the world.

Gillian Stephens, in an interview with the Times published on Saturday, says Lucy Foster told her: "Andrew saved my life. He dived on top of me as soon as he could see what was going to happen. He saved my life."

The couple, who lived in Cardiff, Wales, described their love of the outdoors in a blog, Cam and Bear.

Greg M Stock and Robert A Uhrhammer
Abstract
Large rock slope failures from near-vertical cliffs are an important geomorphic process driving the evolution of mountainous landscapes, particularly glacially steepened cliffs. The morphology and age of a 2·19 × 106 m3 rock avalanche deposit beneath El Capitan in Yosemite Valley indicates a massive prehistoric failure of a large expanse of the southeast face. Geologic mapping of the deposit and the cliff face constrains the rock avalanche source to an area near the summit of ∼8·5 × 104 m2. The rock mass free fell ∼650 m, reaching a maximum velocity of 100 m s−1, impacted the talus slope and spread across the valley floor, extending 670 m from the base of the cliff. Cosmogenic beryllium-10 exposure ages from boulders in the deposit yield a mean age of 3·6 ± 0·2 ka. The ∼13 kyr time lag between deglaciation and failure suggests that the rock avalanche did not occur as a direct result of glacial debuttressing. The ∼3·6 ka age for the rock avalanche does coincide with estimated late Holocene rupture of the Owens Valley fault and/or White Mountain fault between 3·3 and 3·8 ka. The coincidence of ages, combined with the fact that the most recent (AD 1872) Owens Valley fault rupture triggered numerous large rock falls in Yosemite Valley, suggest that a large magnitude earthquake (≥M7.0) centered in the south-eastern Sierra Nevada may have triggered the rock avalanche. If correct, the extreme hazard posed by rock avalanches in Yosemite Valley remains present and depends on local earthquake recurrence intervals. Published in 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Just reading the abstract of Stock & Uhrhammer 2010, quoted above by Tradster, an interesting thought comes to mind. This might be made clear by reading the actual full paper, but that's not immediately possible, so here goes. The source area for their El Cap Meadow rockfall (I guess that's the talus field below Zodiac, the most recent of the big talus deposits there??) is stated to be only about 40 percent larger than the source area scar for the Sept. 28 rockfall. But the volume of the El Cap Meadow one is almost 20 times as big. Maybe that's the volume of the talus field, not the rock volume when it was still attached; no doubt the full paper makes clear which is the case. But the void space in riprap, which is probably similar to the case in a talus field, is only about 30 percent. So the "swell" when the rock falls off the cliff and turns into talus is less than 2 times. That leaves another factor of 10 x, or more, unaccounted for. Unless the source area was much bigger than they determined, that means the thickness of the rock before it fell off would have to have been an average of about 80-100 feet. The SE face is pretty steep as is, imagine how massive of an overhanging section that talus field must have formed when it was still attached!

Mongrel, you are right about the thickness of the El Capitan Meadow rock avalanche - we estimate the failed slab to have had a mean thickness of 19 meters (62 feet), which is almost 8 times thicker than the 28 September rockfall. I imagine it as another Shield Headwall on the Dawn Wall side that was cleaved off during the earthquake.

Tuesday- While working our way up New Dawn, my partner stopped in the middle of his lead and commented that something in the valley growled. The rock was cooling from a warm day at this point.

Tuesday night- Monkey calls and friendly banter rang through cocktail/bong hour as climbers were enjoying the amazing weather and the company of other parties. Late night I awoke to the sound of moderate rock fall in the distance...what distance I didn't know.

Wednesday- As the sun warmed the rock wall, I heard a giant cracking noise and looked over to see two apartment size rocks detach and come apart on their descent to the ledges below. A very tragic scene ensued on the base trail with a rapid and courageous effort from YOSAR and others- condolences :(

Rock fall, that any other time would seem significant, continued unabated through the day and night. 1 am- Racing my headlamp batteries I pulled into Lay Lady Ledge stressed and beat. On perfect que, as I clipped the anchor, a voice in the darkness from above taunted, "welcome to wall climbing mate!" By that time I needed a good laugh- Thank you who ever you are!

Thursday- Again, small scale rock fall and ominous noises continued throughout the morning.

While resting on Lay Lady ledge in the warm afternoon sun- a deafening crack echoed across the wall and we immediately looked over to see a block the approximate size of a 30 story building release in what seemed slow motion, and fracture into many house sized missiles. The plumb line of the fall landed all the detachments on to a series of low angle ledges a thousand feet below and about 300 feet above the trail. The angle of the ledges resulted into the obliteration of the momoth blocks, casting them into an airborne talus field traveling to the forest below at hundreds of feet per second -ever wonder why all the rocks in a scree are of similar size?

For a second straight day, life turned surreal, staring at the dimension of the light grey release scare as is slowly smoked like a canon barrel that had just gone off (the size of a football field).

Thursday night- We planned our retreat down the route with loads and a few technical traverses looming. Late night we heard two car sized flakes come down- we had noticed them dangling from the top of the new corner right after the big release.

We watched Pete and team's ascent throughout- whew!!

Werner's heat chart seems to have pertinence in how events transpired.

The locals would have a much better understanding of the situation going forward, but it would seem that seasons of weather need to pass before I'd go near that area- there's several tiers of ledges with meters deep loose talus, delicately perched above the base trail. The base trail itself has metric tons of debris that will pose a threat to anything below for quite a spell.

Please support your local First Responders in every way possible! They deserve a place in our daily thoughts- knowing they'll be there for our loved ones, often at their own peril.

From a video I took of the second event. Media of the first event will not be released.

Here is an excerpt about the big one near Happy Isles twenty years ago:

"At 6:52 pm on July 10, 1996, two rockfalls detached in quick succession from the rim of Yosemite Valley east of Glacier Point. Approximately 90,000-180,000 tons of rock slid down a bedrock ramp and went airborne, free-falling 2,200 feet to the base of the cliff. The impact generated ground shaking equivalent to a magnitude 2.1 earthquake, which was detected by seismometers 125 miles away. The impact also generated an airblast with velocities exceeding 240 miles/hour, snapping or toppling more than 1,000 trees. Falling trees in the vicinity of the Nature Center at Happy Isles caused one fatality and several serious injuries. The sky went black for six minutes as a large dust cloud blocked out the evening light, and the area around Happy Isles and the Pines campgrounds was covered in a thick coating of rock dust."

One thing that is similar to this one is that two rock falls occurred within short succession of each other, makes sense that one can shake loose another area close by.

It was most fortunate that there was only one fatality and a few injuries, with more that 1,000 trees being toppled.

Thank you for sharing this information regarding the man who perished.

I thought it worth repeating in case no one noticed earlier.

Sep 30, 2017 - 05:21pm PT
I just read that the man who died saved his wife's life by jumping on top of her and shielding her. My heart goes to the family and friends of this brave soul.

I am wondering about how much piton pounding still goes on with these El Cap routes. Most everyone is doing most everything clean, but evidently not all?

FROM MSN:

LONDON — A British newspaper is reporting that the Welsh climber killed by falling rock in Yosemite National Park this week died while trying to shield his wife.

The Times says Andrew Foster's wife, Lucy, told her husband's aunt that he jumped to cover her as tons of rock came cascading on Wednesday down the face of El Capitan, a 3,600-foot granite monolith that attracts climbers from around the world.

Gillian Stephens, in an interview with the Times published on Saturday, says Lucy Foster told her: "Andrew saved my life. He dived on top of me as soon as he could see what was going to happen. He saved my life."

The couple, who lived in Cardiff, Wales, described their love of the outdoors in a blog, Cam and Bear.

What a tragic event.. and an incredible sight. Don't screw with mother nature... Back in my college days in the Laser lab we would create interference patters that showed the stress in our source objects.. I wonder if there are consistent enough pictures, Before, Middle and after to show the stress in the cliff side in a kind of Moire' interferometry way. I'm guessing the first slide must have created a huge tensor resulting in the second slide.

I can't recall if I post it up here or not, the internet access is very slow here. On my Facebook page, I have links to three hi-res videos of the rockfall. Maybe somebody could post those links here please in chronological order?

The first video is the end of the first rockfall on Wednesday. The second video is probably the raddest, and the one I withheld from the Network's cuz I made some colorful comments. And then the third one is the big fall the next day

Just running back up to the Captain, gonna get up on WOEML and repair that thing with Andre Kovacs and our very own Mike Blueblocr. We have some GOONS for Wino Tower!

Rockfall was very frightening. We surely cheated death on that one - it was not Our Time.

I don't believe in luck, rather more in fate and destiny. That being said, I am the luckiest bugger I know!

Cheers and see you on the wall. Way easier for you all to check out photos and stuff on my Facebook page, so hit me up for a friend request, and be sure to tell me your McTopo user name so I know who I'm typing at.

Thanks for posting the links to the Youtube videos. I will try to upload some stills at some point off of Anita's new camera. I did have the presence of mind to grab the good camera, and not my phone, to film the rockfall.

Try not to weld ur pieces so much, a lighter touch with the hammer is rec'd :P.

In all seriousness, you guys dodged it big time and I am happy for that. Me and Clint Cummins were in the Valley yest and were bivied near the base of the Captain last few nights and it was still raining chunks from time to time...Give your girl an extra hard squeeze and kiss, man....

We can clean up the classroom, and start the next 20 posts fresh again, all back on topic and hair parted neatly on the side and stuff, right?

*Every thread has to die somewhere. Alternatively we could make a pact, (cooperation & coordination being a hallmark of our comportment on this forum), that everyone involved in the last 33 posts makes a clean sweep of deletes.

As much as I like anita514 sexy pics......gnomes addition was way out of line!
Banned and/or arrested
And this is coming from a debaucherious loose cannon
Not cool bro
I'm sorry anita, i will Delete that pic from mymind

Sounds like those of us who missed the Gnome gaffe can count ourselves as lucky?
I should've known the Lange tips up girl couldn't have caused such a ruckus.

[edit] Well, Thanks for the follow-up, Kunlun. As giddy as this has made us in recent posts, I tend to try to do the right thing. Reilly and Mouse have made their points and I hear them. Question is, who's going to move this back on topic? Is there more useful geodynamic (?) inquiry to be had here?
VVV

Roy, what was out of line was Anita didn't give permission. The photo must have been posted publicly somewhere for Gnome to get it, and there was nothing too salacious about it. Was a nice photo of Anita really, but as OT as this entire diversion.....

I'm tempted to post the Lange poster, even though she was skiing a bit backseat, but clearly in control.

VVV N America is SO conservative at times. Clearly different from European norms.... no wonder we have a bozo for President.

A slow news night so played with an interesting angle of this event. Not much you can do to enhance a jpeg, also not many pixels to work with, so don't know if this helps? Will remove if original photographer wants it removed.

We were on ElCap on Fruitbowl Tower on the Bumpkin-Horney var of the Atlantic Dihedral route when the entire tower broke away and slid down the wall. Thankfully my belyr and i were on the same chunk, so our rope is ok. We gonna grab some bolts from the car a few Cobras and degmuffins and head back up, looks like good hooking maybe loose.

Another huge rockfall at 6 a.m. this morning during substantial rain. We are at Wino Tower on the Wall of Early Morning Light.

It was still completely dark and I couldn't see anything through the rain and the clouds,except for all of the Sparks lighting up the Impact Zone where the Falling Rock was hitting the talus. Totally rad considering it was pissing down rain!

The terrifying rumbling and crashing continued for the better part of 10 minutes. It sounded as though the entire right hand side of El Cap was crashing to the ground!

From here it looks as though the rockfall originated in the upper right quadrant of the second major waterfall route rockfall. In the dark, I saw Cars stopping down near the Zodiac pull out and wondered if anyone got hit, but the road has remained open so far as I'm aware, and I don't believe there were any injuries.

One ought to think twice about climbing anywhere to the right of around Native Son.

My connection is a bit slow now to upload photos but I have a few on my Facebook page. No doubt Tom Evans and Greg stock will come up with some good ones later today.

If anyone wants to scarf photos from my Facebook page, and upload them on this thread, I would appreciate it. There is a before photo from yesterday, and a bunch of after photos.

Based on the photo comparison below (the photo on the right is from this morning) I see no obvious change in the source area of the 28 September 2017 rockfall, or on the cliff below it. Note that rain last night washed the cliff clean so the photos appear somewhat different for that reason.

Credit: gstock

I'm not yet sure where the rockfall this morning originated. Many people heard it, but opinions vary as to where the sound came from.

Pete
Sounds crazy up there. Take care man and knock back a cup on wino for me.
Thanks to you and your partners for fixing that classic. Harding routes are part of the history and deserve to be kept in place and climbed.

was in El cap meadow a little after 4;00 pm heard a few rocks then saw the latest rockfall from waterfall route wow! we were joking all day about rockfall then just stopped for a few before heading home at the meadow . unreal...

Hi guys. Sorry to hear about the reports of further rockfall, hope everybody in the valley stays safe.

A fundraiser has been set up by the friends and family of Andy Foster, the victim of the first rockfall who died shielding his wife, Lucy, who is now in recovery. The money will go towards helping to introduce young people into the world that Andy loved (i.e. climbing, skiing, hiking, surfing.

In memory of Andrew Foster, we are raising funds that will be used to help young people, who may not otherwise have the opportunity, to experience, enjoy and respect the great outdoors and our natural environment through adventures such as climbing, skiing, surfing and other similar activities.

Andy's love of the outdoors and the natural world was absolutely infectious. As a passionate climber, Andy loved learning new skills and in turn absolutely revelled in sharing his knowledge and experience with others. Sadly Andrew was taken from us in a tragic rock fall accident in the most heroic and brave circumstances shielding and saving someone he loved.

We would therefore like to honour his memory, general enthusiasm for life and love for encouraging others to experience the great outdoors, by establishing the 'Cam & Bear fund for adventure'. Our ultimate mission is to establish an ongoing charity in Andrew's name, aimed at providing young people more opportunities to experience the types of activities that Andrew loved, whilst also learning the importance of protecting our natural environment. You can learn more about the type of person Andrew was by visiting his 'blog' that he and his wife had set up to share their adventures, experience and tips on climbing to hopefully inspire others: https://www.camandbearuk.com/

There hasn't been much talk around the valley floor about this tragic event.. I don't much like dwelling on injuries at all either. BUT ,, I do think Andy Foster is one of the greatest modern heros this world can see!!! He unreluctantly sacrificed his own life to save another. I nominate him for the highest Medal of Honor this country has to offer!!! Along with a parade through NY city with a 21,,,,22 gun salute🗽